Hide and Seek
by Csilla Aria
Summary: While playing a game of hide and seek, Alvis chooses a most unexpected hiding spot.


It was late afternoon just after dinner. Alex almost jumped when his door flew open and Alvis ran in. Looking around quickly before rushing into his closet, and trying to close the door behind her. He sat wondering if he had actually seen that for a few moments, before getting up, walking to his closet, and opening the door slowly. Sticking out beneath the hanging clothing was a pair of boots far too small for him. He pushed the clothing to the side, Alvis peered up at him fearfully.

"Is something going on?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"We're playing hide and seek." Alvis mumbled.

"I see." Alex said. "Who's idea was it for you to hide in my closet?" He asked.

"Mine. I thought nobody would think to look for me here."

Alex nodded. He had to admit he was impressed, she was probably right. Until a few minutes ago the thought never would have crossed _his_ mind. He cast a side glance at the locked gun cabinet beside the girl where he kept extra weapons and ammunition. He had hardly spent any time with her, but from what he had heard Alvis was a very well behaved child. Still, it was asking for trouble. "You know, I imagine you could just sit on the sofa and they'd still never find you." _'What the hell are you doing?'_ he asked himself. _'Just tell her to go hide somewhere else.'_ The problem was the more he thought about, somewhere else might be dangerous. This was a war ship after all.

"You think so?" she asked stepping out. He nodded again and she went over and climbed up onto the sofa. "What if someone comes in and sees me though? They might tell on accident."

Alex picked up his cape which had been laying over the back of his chair dropping it over her head. "There, now no one can see you. If anyone comes in all you have to do is hold still, and be quiet."

Alvis giggled somewhere beneath the heavy cloth. It surprised him to hear her laughing. "This is really heavy. It's soft though!" Alex returned to his desk, and paper work as Alvis, head poking out of the cape watched the clouds go by out the window. For a few minuets everything was so quiet he nearly forgot she was there. "Is your uniform this comfortable?" She asked. Turning his head he could see her rubbing a hand over the fabric of his cape out of the corner of his eye. "Mine is." She said not waiting for him to answer. "I like it. It's like wearing pajamas all the time."

Alex sighed. This was going to be a long wait for someone to come find her, if they did. "So who exactly is playing right now?"

"Claus is the seeker right now. He's better at it than hiding, he doesn't find very good spots. Lavie's hiding, Dio and Lucciola are too. Dio said Lucciola wasn't allowed to be seeker anymore because he's too good at finding people." Alvis said frowning. "I think he's just mad because Lucciola always finds him first. Dio isn't very good at hiding either. Even if he finds a good spot he's too noisy. Alis is playing too. She asked Tatiana if she wanted to play, but she just got grumpy again. We asked Mullin, and the other mechanics if they wanted to play, but they had work to do."

Alex nodded. He asked a few more questions, mostly concerning how she was adjusting to life on the ship. He was aware her caretaker who was supposed to have been looking after her here, along with giving him the Hamilton Mysteron had been killed by the guild so he avoided that subject completely. After a while the conservation began to die down. He noticed Alvis was trying to unsuccessfully to stay awake. He looked at the clock. "The game is probably over by now, I have a feeling you won."

Alvis only yawned, blinking sleepily. Alex walked over and carefully lifted the girl up, still wrapped in his cape. It was late enough now people were probably getting worried. Out in the hall he soon ran into Sophia, who immediately looked very relived to see Alvis, now sound asleep. "We've been looking all over. Lavie is worried sick. Where did you find her?" She asked quietly.

"She's been with me."

"What?" Sophia asked blinking.

Alex shrugged. "She decided the best place to hide was my closet. I convinced her she could wait on the sofa. I hadn't realized how long she'd been waiting until she started falling asleep. You really need to talk to them about things like this. She could have ended up somewhere dangerous." He looked over to see Sophia smiling at him. "What?"

"Nothing." She said still smiling. "You should have told someone. We've had several store rooms torn apart looking for her."

Alex just shrugged again. "Where is her room?" Alex asked as they stepped into he lift.

"I'll show you the way. Hopefully we'll run into someone who can let everyone know she's all right." Sophia said as she chose the floor they needed. After leaving the lift they headed straight to the room Alvis shared with Claus and Lavie. No one was there when they arrived. Sophia pulled the blankets down on one of the bottom bunks, and Alex set Alvis down, carefully untangling her from his cape. Sophia quickly tucked the girl in. "Well, I'm going to go let everyone know she's safe."

Alex nodded turning to leave.

"Good night, Captain." Sophia said once they were back out in the hall.

Alex just nodded again in return, and headed back to his room.


End file.
